First you might ask yourself, why would I use Facebook to teach my students, that is
for socializing. And you are right, but then ask yourself, what is language for?
Communication, and of course one of the major aspects of communication is, of course,
socializing. Studies have shown that using technology can have a positive effect on
language learners with social anxiety issues (Bartholomey, 2015; Hung & Huang, 2015).
Blogging and video blogging can act as a bridge for language students to practice their
newly acquire skills in a non-judgmental environment, easing the flow of their development
to use their second language in the real world (Aydin, 2014; Bartholomey, 2015; Dupagne et
al, 2007). Social media, such as Facebook, can also be used to increase the amount of
platform for courses have shown 4 times more discussion posts in a class offered on
Facebook, than on a forums designed to be solely used as LMS (Schroeder & Greenbowe,
environment, which is the reason why we have chosen Facebook as the educational setting
for this course. In addition, Facebook is already used by over 90% of youth (Meishar-Tal et
al, 2012), making it a simple click to join a class without having to learn to use a completely
Culture" (2004), Turkle discusses our relationships with technology, and computers as
relational objects that we are becoming overly attached too. She also refers to how the
internet has an effect on identity, and the development of multiple selves. Although Turkle
suggests that we think more about what technology does to us, instead of what technology
does for us, I think it is important to see the opportunity in this, as educators. In particular,
when we look at her view on how cyberspace effects our personalities, and how we have
relationships with each other through a computer (especially on social media), we can easily
see a major role technology can play in language education. Turkle believes that social
media has created a society in which we are "alone together", and we are having less and
less face to face conversations. We must take Turkle's conclusions as reason why we should
adopt using more technology in our teaching practices, in an attempt to connect with
students, and help students collaborate with one another in not only a social but
educational manner. One thing we can all learn from history is that technology cannot be
stopped, or even slowed down. So, we must take the approach of, if you can't beat them join
them.
As we can see, Facebook can be a useful educational platform because it can ease the
social anxiety felt by language learners, it is a familiar application which has been proven
to encourage more interaction between students and teachers, and it is already used by the
majority of youth who will be involved in your class. The use of Facebook as the platform
can also reinforce what the students already know, English is not just a subject to study in
school, but a way to socialize, communicate with others, and expand their world beyond
their country's and culture's borders. Using Facebook alone as a platform is not solely
responsible for the creation of learning dynamics, the instructors design of tasks and
In language learning, grammatical or notional syllabi are often used as the base
material for courses. Although it is not possible to cover all the possible conversational
will allow students to better develop the cognitive abilities to apply what they learn to the
real world. Putting constructivist-based theories into practice should be guided by a few
design principles for any case-based syllabus: 1. It should provide multiple representations
construction, not reproduction 4. It should present authentic tasks for students to learn
reflective practice 7. It should support both context and content dependent knowledge
Murphy, 1997). To sum things up, constructivism is the how over the what, it requires
students to make sense of the materials and to be able to demonstrate an ability to apply
what they have learned in real-world situations and practices. In the following section you
The example case for this class is using the situation of ordering food at a restaurant.
The learning objectives for the class material is for the students to be able to understand a
menu in English, and properly order the food that they want to eat. There are four separate
but related assignments provided online to supplement what will be studied in class, as
well as a class Wiki document and class discussions which will take the form of post and
1. Menu Assignment ask your students to find a menu from a restaurant they want
to eat at. This could be a picture of a menu from a restaurant they visit, or a menu
they find online. Ask the students to post the menu and find the meanings of any of
the food dishes they could not understand, and provide deeper explanations of these
dishes. Finally, tell the students that they must post an order on at least 4 different
menu post for the foods they would want to eat at each restaurant. This gives your
2. Video Assignment ask students to find a partner and create a video in which one
member takes the role of server/cashier and the other a restaurant customer. The
students can choose any restaurant and create a dialog which they will create a
video around. Have the students brainstorm all of the various language necessary to
successfully order food at a restaurant. They will post their videos on the group page
assignment can be easily modified and used for a variety of situations. As the
students get used to this method, their skills at producing videos will improve, and
will be able to better focus on the language skills they are trying to assimilate into
3. "Guess Who?" Game tell the students that they are expected to play this game at
least 8 times and record their wins. The game contains 3 questions and answer
the questions lead to hints as to who the other person has chosen to be. Which is of
course the point of the game, to figure out who the other person is first. This game is
solving gaming situation, solidifying cognitive processes needed for deeper learning.
This game can also easily be modified to be played with many different situations or
language point besides just the ordering food scenario. This activity gets the
students to practice the target language needed to order food in a real-life game
situation.
4. Make a Multiple Choice Question Facebook groups has a "Create a Poll" function
which can easily be exploited to make simple multiple choice questions. Tell
students that they are expected to make and post at least one multiple choice
question related to ordering food in a restaurant. Any question related to the topic is
acceptable, and the students should be encouraged to answer as many of their peers'
questions as possible. After enough of their peers have answered their question, they
should post an answer in the comments section and open a discussion about why
some students may have made a mistake. These questions are designed to stimulate
already know). For privacy reasons, you may not wish to befriend or have your students
know your Facebook account information. If this is the case with you, or you do not have a
Facebook account, simple make a "work" account from a second email account that you
check often enough. After you have chosen an account to use, you must then create a group,
which you will see to the left of your news feed. You can then choose a picture relevant to
your class as your cover photo. After creating your group you will see a simple toolbar
under your cover photo. There are five tabs: Discussion, Members, Events, Photos, Files.
For the purposes of this course design, you will need to pay most attention to Discussions,
where posts will be made, and Files, where you host the course materials and detailed
Posts (Discussion):
Now you can start making posts, but first of all you should make a special introduction post
that you can "pin" to stay on the top of the page. Put all the information about the course in
this post, including a brief description of the assignments and where to find more detailed
instructions. You may wish to turn the comments off for this post. I would also suggest that
you make posts for each of the various activities, as well as uploading a file with a list of
Files:
In the files section you should upload a file for the students to access or download with
detailed instructions of all the activities they will be expected to take part in over the
course period. You should also make a second file by clicking on the shared document tab,
and the Create Doc button. Title this based on your situation and use it as a shared wiki
that can be updated and added to by the students.
References:
Aydin, S. (2014). The use of blogs in learning English as a foreign language. Mevlana
International Journal of Education, 4 (1), 244-259.
Dupagne, M., Stacks, D.W., & Giroux v.M. (2007). Effects of Video Streaming Technology on
Public Speaking Students' Communication Apprehension and Competence. Journal of
Educational Technology Systems, June 2007 35: 479-490.
Hung, A.S.T & Huang , D.H.T. (2015). Video blogging and English presentation
performance: a pilot study. Psychological Reports: Sociocultural Issues in Psychology,
117(2), 614-630.
Meishar-Tal, H., Kurtz, G., & Pieterse, E. (2012). Facebook groups as LMS: A case study.
The International Review Of Research In Open And Distributed Learning, 13(4), 33-48.
Turkle, S. (2012, April 21). The flight from conversation. New York Times